 |
| Officials from different ethnic groups in Nigeria |
 |
| Master Gospel Agiriga Alvin explaining his work |
The outcome of the second
edition of The Vision of
the Child, in which school children were involved in painting contest, left adults with an issue to worry
about.
How they
created ideas and painted oil pipeline vandalism, uniformed men extorting money
from motorists, an oil cabal giving bribe to someone and government officials
getting fatter while the masses are getting thinner, proved that these future
generations are aware that the hydra-headed monster called corruption has eaten
deep into the fabrics of Nigeria’s economic and political system.
Tagged: “The Thousand and
One Faces of Corruption,” it displayed many faces of corruption
painted by school children drawn from six educational districts in Lagos State.
While
describing his painting, 12-year-old junior secondary school 1A student of
Methodist Boys High School, Lagos, Master Gospel Agiriga Alvin, said the man on
his work is the government in a position to work for the betterment of the
masses but he is stealing Nigerian money while the governed can’t afford the
basic amenities including food, clothing and shelter.
He defined
corruption as: “Anything that public officials do to make illegitimate profit
at the expense of the governed.”
Born by a
clergyman in Lagos Diocese of Method Church, Lagos, his mother is a teacher in
Methodist Boys High School, where Gospel is schooling.
In a
nutshell, the Imo Sate born student frowned at the way people in authority are
living in affluence while the governed are swimming in abject poverty.
In order
to eradicate corruption in our society, Gospel said he would obey law and order
and would not use public funds for his personal use when he grows up. He said
he would become either a veterinary doctor or an artist after schooling and said
he didn’t like the way animals are treated in Nigeria. “Animals are not well catered
for in Nigeria,” he said.
While
appreciating the paintings done by the students, Lagos State Commissioner for
Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Oladisun Holloway, described the works
as “quite appealing. I am into arts, so I felt weak when I saw
their paintings. These children were expressing their thoughts on Nigeria in
terms of corruption and the pictures are very powerful.” He suggested that
Nigerians should learn from it.
The festival consultant of Lagos Black Heritage, Professor Wole Soyinka
gives insight to what The Vision of the
Child is all about and said: “Here,
we wish to challenge their creativity early in life and provide an outlet for
those observations and feelings, for which they sometimes seek the means of
expression.”
Before the official closing of 2013 Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF),
the children who participated in the painting contest were rewarded with
festival certificates and gifts.
 |
| Uniformed men extorting money from motorists |
 |
| Oil cabal bribing a government functionary to avoid being probed |
No comments:
Post a Comment